Probe: New Details on Sustained Abuse of Whiting Patient; 40 Or More Workers Had Varying Involvement

A public-health investigation in the wake of the largest patient-maltreatment scandal in memory at the state's maximum security forensic hospital offers new details on the abuse of a patient over weeks and multiple work shifts, and questions why more treatment workers were not suspended.

The 102-page review by the Department of Public Health notes that 31 Whiting Forensic workers were placed on leave through the spring and early summer — the largest group to ever be disciplined at one time.

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But the report says that as many as 40 staff members "were identified in the video log as being abusive or witnessing abuse" and not reporting it, and that another eight workers were talking on their cellphones or had left the immediate area while they were supposed to be constantly observing the patient who was the victim of the abuse.

The recently completed report was obtained by The Courant on Wednesday.

State police detectives are conducting a criminal investigation of the abuse, which included physical assault. Officials of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services have condemned the conduct and have vowed to make changes at Whiting.

On Wednesday, officials at the mental-health agency said the DPH report was "comprehensive" and that many of its recommendations had already been put in place.

The officials said that the agency suspended the 31 workers believed most culpable and that some of the other staff members referred to by DPH had committed work-rule violations that didn't warrant being placed on leave.

The agency said the reforms include increased supervision, added training, environmental and security improvements, increased patient access to client-advocacy officers, and a reaffirmation of mandated-reporter requirements for staff members.

The DPH report, in addition to detailing patient abuse, noted several fundamental deficiencies, including that some nurses and treatment workers were not monitoring the video-surveillance cameras that show all of the activity in the wards; that some workers lacked training in restraint techniques; and that a number of basic policies were not being followed.

The Courant reported on June 5 that the patient — admitted in 1995 after being acquitted by reason of insanity in the death of his elderly father in Greenwich — was systematically kicked, jabbed, poked and taunted by a succession of staff over a period of weeks early this year — and that it was all captured by video-surveillance cameras that routinely operate in the locked wards of Whiting.

The public-health investigation, done at the request of federal Medicaid regulators, probed behind those locked doors, and describes with graphic clarity the nearly continuous, unprovoked and systematic abuse of a 62-year-old patient whose court-ordered commitment has actually expired. He is being held at Whiting, which is on the grounds of Connecticut Valley Hospital, because he is too mentally ill to function outside the hospital.

The report describes treatment workers and some nurses arbitrarily going into the patient's room, kicking him, throwing food and liquids on him, or pulling the sheet over his head — and then simply walking out of the room, only to return later to repeat the actions. The report describes the patient being flipped off his bed onto the floor in the middle of the night and cowering in a darkened corner of the room. At one point "an incontinent diaper" was placed on his head. The video captures staff members taunting and bullying the patient and occasionally striking him, the report states.

Here is a typical passage of the report, drawn from hours of video footage of the activities in and around the patient's room:

"FTS #32 [forensic treatment worker] ... starts hitting/tapping/pulling at patient. FTS #28 gets out of chair and hits the patient, [then] kicks the patient repeatedly while sitting in chair. FTS #32 kicks the patient in the head. FTS #31 kicks the patient while the patient is in bed."

On another shift, "FTS #30 wakes patient up ... and begins to pour liquid towards the patient's face as the patient is lying down. FTS #30 leaves the room to get a jug of water ... He immediately starts to pour liquid at the patient."

On yet another shift, "FTS #52 [part of the team assigned to constantly monitor the patient] appears to be sleeping in the corner. FTS #24 is reclined in chair, feet on bed near patient's head, facing ceiling, asleep ... FTS #23 scolds the patient with rolled up sheets of paper, hits the patient in the head with it three times, while RN #28 [registered nurse] watches from a seat in the hall."

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Mental-health officials reiterated Wednesday that they were "appalled" by the allegations.

The agency said in a statement that it would "complete a thorough human-resources investigation once the criminal investigation into these allegations is complete. We continue to work to identify more ways to improve patient care and safety and will do whatever is necessary to prevent future incidents."